There is something about the early morning that has a calming, hopeful effect on me.  This morning the sun is peaking through the trees and glistening off the grass and the side of the trailer next to us. The air is still, not a leaf is moving, and the birds are chirping as if to call everyone to wake up and experience this amazing scene.  Of course, I’m the only one up; everyone else is still sleeping, dreaming today will be a better day than the rain of yesterday.

At this particular moment the sky is blue, not a cloud can be seen.  It looks like it’ll be a perfect day for the beach – impossible to believe that the forecast calls for thunder showers.  From where I sit on our deck, right now I have high hopes that this will be an awesome beach day.

Aahh, the peace, the quiet, the stillness, the calm of this moment … did I say quiet? Yes, I did … but it won’t be for long.  My sister and her three boys are visiting, and when things get going here there will be lots of activity, talking, laughing, fighting for the bathroom.  We need a good day, a sunny day, a day at the beach to keep everyone happy.

In the quiet of the morning, I have a great calm and hope about what will transpire today.  I think we’ll get our beach day so that my sister and her kids didn’t drive up from rainy Mississauga only to experience a rainy Sauble Beach.

It’s perfect right now.  It’s going to be a great day … well, that is, except for the forecast of a thunderstorm.  Things can change.  I’ve seen it before:  blue sky, hot sun and then some tiny clouds appears in the distance, and slowly get bigger and closer and you can sense the rain falling far off.  A day can change quickly.  It reminds me of Elijah telling his servant to look for a cloud in the sky after three years of no rain (1 Kings 18:41-45).  It’s happened before, and it could happen today.

Here’s the thing:  We really don’t know what a day will bring our way.  It could be good or it could be bad (and I’m not just talking about weather).  But it seems to me we should try to start the day as prepared and ready as possible for whatever will come our way.  I think that means we should take time in the early part of the day to set ourselves calm and quiet.  And we can do that no better than to take time with God, read, pray, reflect, journal, just set ourselves calm and quiet in Him as we begin each day.

And what do you know? … the weather man WAS wrong … perfect beach day! … who’d a thunk it?!

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: How do you get calm and quiet for the start of the day?